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The endurance of redistributive institutional structure: the role of institutional rigidities in the Ottoman case

THE ENDURANCE OF REDISTRIBUTIVE INSTITUTIONAL
STRUCTURE:
THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL RIGIDITIES
IN THE OTTOMAN CASE
by
Seda Ünsar
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(POLITICAL SCIENCE)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Seda Ünsar

The thesis takes up the Ottoman story to develop an elaborate critique to the theory of path dependence while encompassing other complimentary theories, and to offer a comprehensive perspective for understanding institutional change and evolutionary development.; The Ottoman wealth and capital accumulation system, depending on status and privileges, over time, created a top-to-bottom structure which did not allow for the emergence of incentives for productive activity. Within this institutional structure, the reason behind ulema's ascendance to power was related to its access to economic resources and its organic relationship with the center which had the sway of legal power. The power of ulema, which derived from and rested on the power of law, turned into an organic friction over time since the economic interests depended on unproductive and extractive economic activity further reinforced by clientelism. As a result of conjunctural impact, the Ottoman institutional system was put under pressure due to its organizational and infrastructural deficiencies. While the main problematic of the imperial system in the age of reform involved the structural hindrances, the ulema's power consolidation began to deteriorate as a form of human capital incompatible with external shocks. Hence, as a self-enforcing institution, it became weakly enforced and entered a self-undermining path out of which it was destroyed.; Against this backdrop, the emergence of the Ottoman laicization process was an unconsciously intended by-product of the bureaucratic efforts to redefine property rights accordingly with the emerging age of modernity and to shift the redistributive institutional structure to a productive one through reform in the land regime. The endurance of the redistributive institutional structure was mainly due to the institutional rigidities, i.e. the top-to-bottom structure and the Ulema: Although rigidities changed over time, particularly with the Kemalist Revolution, their existence in different forms persist as an evolutionary deficiency.; The theoretical critique elaborated in the thesis also intends to shed light on contemporary developments in Turkey and sketch out the evolutionary patterns in a wider angle to provide implications for the rest of the world. These implications form a perspective for the way to investigate institutional developmental processes in general.

THE ENDURANCE OF REDISTRIBUTIVE INSTITUTIONAL
STRUCTURE:
THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL RIGIDITIES
IN THE OTTOMAN CASE
by
Seda Ünsar
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(POLITICAL SCIENCE)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Seda Ünsar